


Now We're Strangers

by RedLeopard19



Series: From Friends to Strangers [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Female Steve Rogers, Genderswap, Hydra (Marvel), Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Has PTSD, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-01-13 18:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18474640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedLeopard19/pseuds/RedLeopard19
Summary: Splitting her time between New York and DC, Stephanie "Stevie" Barnes raises her daughter, Jamie, while working a new job with SHIELD. Jamie is showing distaste for several of Stevie's new team, and the appearance of a ghost assassin has Stevie shaken because she can't shake the feeling that she just might know him, but that's impossible. Her husband, and just about everyone else she knows, is dead.





	1. Routines Break

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All rights and everything recognizable goes to Marvel.

Routine in DC was easy. Every morning, Stevie would wake up early and put Jamie in a stroller to go for her morning run. Some days Jamie would want out of the stroller and run along side Stevie. Since Jamie was only two, Stevie would be speed walking instead of running on those days. In rare cases, Natasha, Tony, or Clint would abscond Jamie before the run so Stevie could have the morning or the day to herself.

 

After her run, and a shower, Stevie would go out and about DC. Jamie loved the museums as much as Stevie did. Jamie especially loved the Smithsonian because of the exhibit they had on Stevie and Bucky. She liked going up to the giant display of her dad’s head and talking to him as if he could hear her.

 

They’d go to parks to have picnics and to libraries for story time. Jamie loved picking out what food they had for each picnic, surprisingly requesting roasted broccoli, applesauce, and pizza more often than not. For story time in the libraries, Jamie always managed to sit still and listen to almost all of the story before losing interest like the other toddlers around her.

 

Sometimes Stevie would go visit Peggy Carter in the nursing home, bringing Jamie on occasion. Peggy had Alzheimer’s and would forget that Stevie had come back and introduced her to Jamie in the middle of their visit. It made Stevie sad and confused Jamie, but they both introduced themselves to her every time she forgot them. Jamie even drew her a picture of a bird she’d seen out the window of their apartment.

 

Dinner would be homecooked and healthy, the only fights about food every really involving onions, spinach, and creamed corn. In the case of creamed corn, Stevie was willing to lose that battle. Jamie was typically good at eating all of her food, but that could be attributed to the super soldier metabolism she had. They went through a lot of food.

 

Bath time was always a chaotic affair. Jamie loved bath time and wanted to play in the water for hours. Water would end up all over the bathroom. Unfortunately, water gets cold after long periods of time without a heat source, and Stevie really didn’t like cold water. Stevie really didn’t like cold much of anything really. She could handle diving into or touching cold water purposefully, but if she was unaware or not in control of how she entered the water, she was likely to panic.

 

Something Stevie wished wasn’t the case because it made her feel like an unfit mother, was that Jamie was really good at grounding Stevie if she had a nightmare or a panic attack. Jamie would start counting random numbers and saying her mom’s name until her mom repeated the numbers back to her. In one case, Jamie asked her to list all the colours in the room. Jamie would climb in to Stevie’s bed with extra blankets and curl up to her, warming her if she was shivering from her nightmare.

 

Stevie read Jamie a story before bed every night, turning on a little Captain America nightlight Natasha had bought Jamie before leaving the room. Unless Stevie had a nightmare, or had to go to the bathroom, Jamie stayed in bed all night.

 

Potty training was an on-going project. Jamie was good at remembering to go to the bathroom most of the time, but if she ever got really into a drawing, or was having too much fun playing, she’d forget. Luckily for everyone, and Tony claimed for him the most, Jamie’s accidents were few and far between.

 

Jamie didn’t like DC as much as New York, despite the Smithsonian, because Stevie was called in for work more there, and she didn’t like the STRIKE team Stevie worked with. Natasha worked with them when Stevie did, and Jamie like her, it was everybody else on the team Jamie disliked. Her excuses were that Brock Rumlow showed too much interest in Stevie for Jamie’s liking, and Jack Rollins looked at her weird, but really something was just off about them and the rest of the team that Jamie didn’t like.

 

The person Jamie disliked the most was Secretary Alexander Pierce. Stevie secretly agreed with Jamie that there was something not right with him, that he was hiding something, but they didn’t have proof.  Jamie had only met him once and burst into tears when he tried to shake her hand.

 

Stevie knew that children were excellent judges of character but had to believe that all the people her daughter disliked and didn’t trust in SHIELD were setting off her bad person senses because of the shadier things SHIELD did to support world peace and freedom.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Clint was standing on Stevie’s doorstep before the crack of dawn yawning and petting his one-eyed dog just before the crack of dawn. He was trying and failing to not look grumpy as Stevie opened the door.

 

“LUCKY!” Jamie squealed at the top of her lungs, diving out the door to pull Clint’s dog into a hug.

 

“Hey Clint,” Stevie greeted, “Here to take care of Jamie for the day?”

 

“Yeah. Tasha said you’re gonna have a mission later today. Said something about picking you up after your run. I’m here to be the fun uncle babysitter until you get back,” Clint responded through a series of yawns. “I can’t believe you get up this early every day.”

 

“Hey once you get into the routine,” Stevie shrugged before kneeling down to look at Jamie who appeared to be just shy of strangling the dog. “Blue Jay, Mommy’s got a mission after her run so Uncle Clint and Lucky are going to look after you today and until Mommy gets back from work.”

 

“How long is Mommy gone?” Jamie asked, letting go of Lucky and jumping into Stevie’s arms for a crushing hug.

 

“I don’t know yet, but not longer than tomorrow night for bed time,” Stevie promised. “Remember to be good for Uncle Clint while I’m gone, ok?”

 

“I’ll remember,” Jamie promised.

 

“Ok, kissies?” Stevie smiled as Jamie gave her a big kiss before grabbing Lucky’s collar and tugging it so he’d follow her into the apartment. “See you soon, Clint, and thanks for looking after her.”

 

“Anytime. I’m the fun uncle after all!” Clint said enthusiastically as Stevie got to her feet.

 

“I topped off the coffee in the cupboard,” Stevie told him with a smirk.

 

Clint groaned, “You are a saint!”

 

Stevie laughed, double checked she had her phone, keys and wallet, and stepped out the door. Clint locked it behind her, and Stevie jogged to her normal running route.

 

Now, Stevie’s normal running route took her all over the city to all of the monuments, and for a few months now, she’d noticed a black man with a sweater advertising the local VA taking the same route. She’d never really talked to him, and it occurred to her that she never ran at her faster paces with Jamie, so Stevie decided to introduce herself to him.

 

"On your left," Stevie quipped, jogging passed him.

 

He didn’t react much to that, only trying to pick up his speed slightly. She made another lap and began to pass him again.

 

"On your left," She smirked.

 

"Uh-huh, on my left. Got it," he panted as she jogged out of ear shot.

 

She was about to pass him again when he glanced back at her. He started running faster, trying to keep a head of her.

 

"Don't say it! Don't you say it!" He yelled, pumping his arms faster.

 

Stevie waited until she was right beside him, smirked and said, "On your left."

 

"COME ON!" He yelled after her.

 

She next saw him sitting against a tree, panting.

 

"Need a medic?" Stevie quipped, walking up to him.

 

"I need a new set of lungs," He corrected, "Dude, you just ran like thirteen miles in thirty minutes!"

 

"I guess I got a late start," Stevie joked.

 

"Oh really? You should be ashamed of yourself! You should take another lap. Did you just take it? I assume you just took it!" He said sarcastically, finally getting control of his heart rate.

 

"What unit are you with?" Stevie asked, tilting her head.

 

"Fifty-eighth. Para-rescue. But now I'm down at the VA. Sam Wilson," he said holding out his hand.

 

"Stephanie Barnes. Call me Stevie," Stevie replied, accepting the hand and pulling him to his feet.

 

"I kind of put that together. Must’ve freaked you out coming home after the whole defrosting thing," Sam mused.

 

"It takes some getting used to," Stevie shrugged, making to walk away, "Good to meet you, Sam."

 

"It's your bed, right?" Sam said, causing Stevie to double back.

 

"What's that?"

 

"Your bed. It's too soft. When I was over there, I slept on the ground and used rocks for pillows, like a caveman. Now I'm home, lying in my bed, and it's like…" Sam began, searching for the words.

 

"Like you're sleeping on a marshmallow. I feel like I'm gonna sink to the floor," Stevie finished, receiving a nod, "How long?"

 

"Two tours. You must miss the good old days, huh?" Sam asked, smiling slightly.

 

"Well, things aren't so bad. I’ve got Jamie. Food's a lot better, we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet. So helpful. I've been reading that a lot trying to catch up," Stevie listed, Sam thought for a moment.

 

"Marvin Gaye, 1972, 'Trouble Man' soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album," Sam suggested, “And for little Junior? Has she discovered Bubble Guppies yet?”

 

"I'll put it on the list!" Stevie smiled, pulling a note book Bruce had given her out of her pocket, “And she’s seen the Bubble Guppy books in the library.”

 

“They’re based on a show. Kids her age are obsessed with them and Pound Patrol. One of the guys down at the VA mentioned getting the toys based on the shows for his kids,” Sam nodded.

 

She added all his suggestions to the list and got a text alert. Putting the note book back in her pocket she pulled her phone out to read a message from Natasha that said: ' **Mission Alert. Extraction Imminent. Meet me at the curb. :)** '

 

"Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run, if you call that running," Stevie smirked, putting her phone back in her pocket.

 

"Oh, is that how it is?" Sam asked, shaking Stevie's hand.

 

"That's how it is!" Stevie sassed back, causing Sam to laugh, “Jamie can run faster than you.”

 

"Okay. Any time you wanna stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know," Sam smirked, “And I’m not too proud to lose to a two-year-old in a foot race.

 

"I’ll keep it in mind," Stevie laughed.

 

"Okay," Sam nodded as Natasha pulled up in a black sports car.

 

"Hey, soldiers. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I’m here to pick up a fossil," Natasha called, rolling down her window.

 

"That’s hilarious," Stevie replied flatly, walking over and getting in the car.

 

"How you doing?" Sam greeted Natasha. 

 

"Hey," She nodded.

 

"You can’t run everywhere," Stevie told him.

 

"No, you can’t," Sam agreed as Natasha pulled from the curb and drive away.

 

Almost as soon as Sam was out of earshot, Natasha had a smirk fixed on her face.

 

“So…who’s your new friend?” Natasha asked, her tone lilting and teasing.

 

“His name is Sam and I just met him today,” Stevie answered, shooting Natasha a suspicious look. “You better not be trying to find me a boyfriend again.”

 

“I just don’t want you to be lonely,” Natasha said, “Or have to raise Jamie alone.”

 

“I’m not lonely, and you, Clint, Tony, and Bruce are all helping me raise her. I’m not raising her alone,” pointed out Stevie.

 

Natasha rolled her eyes and dropped the subject for the moment.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Boys we have another very important mission at hand,” Natasha announced as soon as the Quinjet took off for the mission. “We must convince Stevie that she should be open to getting a boyfriend.”

 

“I don’t need a boyfriend,” Stevie complained, “I thought we were done talking about this today.”

 

“Being your best friend is a full-time job, Barnes, I must always be working on securing you a date and then forcing you to go on said dates,” Natasha responded seriously. “Stark is fully supporting this mission.”

 

“Natasha, even if I wanted to date, which I don’t, it would be really hard to find somebody for me!” Stevie pointed out.

 

“I’m sure lots of people will jump at the chance to date you, Cap,” Rumlow smirked, “Even without the threat of death from the Black Widow or the threat of financial bankruptcy from Tony Stark!”

 

“You’re on their side, Rumlow? How could you? Do I have no allies to help me in the war against being forced into awkward dates?” Stevie moaned, burying her face in her hands, “I’ve had Maria Hill and Nick Fury suggest I try dating. Do you have any idea how strange it is to be told by the Director of SHIELD that you should start dating?”

 

“Cap, you don’t have to start dating until you’re ready to,” Rollins called from the monitor he was poking at.

 

“Thank you, Jack Rollins! Finally, someone is on my side!” Stevie crowed triumphantly, shooting Natasha a glare. “Unlike my quote un-quote best friend.”

 

“Name one other super spy slash assassin that is best friend material!” Natasha snapped playfully.

 

“Clint,” Stevie stated flatly, “When it was his turn to give me a tour of modern New York we took out a gang and went to Coney Island. He won me fifteen stuffed animals, and then we got in a fight with another gang.”

 

“That is your definition of fun?” Natasha exclaimed incredulously, while several members of STRIKE team started snickering.

 

“Nathan, my hobbies growing up included art and getting into fist fights in back alleys,” Stevie reminded her, “Only difference is now the enemies just happen to be gangs, terrorists or aliens. Plus 85% of my impulse control isn’t here to stop me.”

 

“You’re missing 85% of your impulse control?” Rumlow questioned worriedly.

 

“Yeah, Bucky. He was the level headed one of the two of us,” Stevie nodded, smiling wistfully.

 

“You really miss him, huh?” Rollins commented.

 

Stevie nodded again. “I would do almost anything to see him again.”

 

“Almost anything?” Rumlow repeated, arching an eyebrow.

 

“I refuse to lose Jamie. I wouldn’t trade her for the world or Bucky. If she’s safe, though? I’ve killed for Bucky before, and I know I’d do so again in a heartbeat,” Stevie declared seriously.

 

Her statement seemed to shock nearly everyone in the jet. Natasha was the only one not looking at Stevie strangely after her words.

 

“His death is the reason you went from ‘only fighting Hydra because they’re bullies’ to swearing to ‘never stop until they were dead’,” Natasha said, “I remember you saying that during one of our bonding nights back in New York.”

 

“Well it’s true,” Stevie shrugged, looking at Rumlow. “Let’s run through the mission again.”


	2. First Contact

Being annoyed with Natasha and then with Fury didn’t make for a good end to a mission. Neither did discovering that SHIELD intended to hold guns to the heads of every person in the world under the guise of freedom. Those three Helicarriers Fury showed her…they would be a potential threat to her daughter, and Stevie did not like that one bit.

 

Stevie angrily changed out of her uniform and into her civvies before heading home. Her walk to the garage was brisk, and the way she revved the engine of her bike before leaving the garage could have been described as aggressive, but Stevie just needed to see her baby after the mess of a mission she was on.

 

Jamie was jumping at the door with Lucky when Stevie walked in, having heard the bike.

 

“MOMMY!” Jamie shouted over Lucky’s barks, holding her arms out to be picked up.

 

“There’s my baby!” Stevie replied with a smile, picking up her daughter and pressing kisses to her cheeks before looking down at Lucky. “Yes, hello Lucky. I’ll pet you when I get in the door.”

 

Lucky let out a happy yip and led Stevie into the living room where Clint was collapsed across the couch.

 

“Hey Cap,” Clint acknowledged with a tired wave. “We drew pictures of Lucky and DUMMY playing fetch, then played a terrifying game of tag that I lost poorly. That girl can tackle better than an NFL linebacker.”

 

“You didn’t hurt Uncle Clint, did you?” Stevie asked Jamie, who shook her head.

 

“No,” Jamie denied, giggling to herself.

 

“I wouldn’t be an Avenger if I couldn’t take a hit, but it felt more like a ten year old pouncing on me than a two year old,” Clint said moving so he was sitting on the couch so Stevie could take a seat, “I’d tell you to sign her up for sports, but she’d decimate the other kids.”

 

Stevie chuckled before sitting down and petting Lucky’s head. “Nick showed me something that I’m not a fan of today because of a side mission he assigned Natasha in the middle of my rescue op.”

 

“That’s SHIELD for you. Compartmentalization. I’ve been given so many secondary assignments in a team assignment you would not believe,” Clint said, frowning and handing Stevie a pile of bugs. “By the way, I found these while looking for cups in the kitchen.”

 

Stevie immediately recognized the SHIELD tech the bugs were made with, and her face became stone. Clint nodded in agreement at the look on her face. Jamie started playing with the curls in her mom’s hair.

 

“Let’s vent over coffee. We can visit the Smithsonian again,” Clint offered, “Get some fresh air or something. I’m heading back to New York in two hours with Lucky so you can give me anything you want me to take to the Tower a head of time.”

 

“I’ll go for that coffee,” Stevie nodded. “Last time I went for coffee I spent the whole time reading the files SHIELD gave me on the Commandos.”

 

“That is so depressing,” Clint complained, whistling at Lucky. “Lucky, get the leash.”

 

The golden dog took off, nails skittering on the floor. Jamie giggled happily, jumping off of Stevie’s lap and chasing the dog.

 

“I get my shoes!” Jamie called back to her mom.

 

Stevie got up and walked over to the kitchen counter, where she put the bugs in a neat pile. Clint was toing on his shoes and pulling on his hoodie. Jamie had her shoes on, and Lucky sat patiently at the door with a purple leash in mouth. Stevie handed Jamie her jacket and hooked Lucky’s leash on, handing the leash to Clint when he was sorted.

 

They waited until they were a block away to start talking.

 

Stevie was angry, “They bugged my apartment? I thought Insight was bad enough, but this?”

 

“How about explaining what Insight might be and I can be of use,” Clint suggested, smiling at the flower Jamie pointed out in somebody’s garden. “Very pretty.”

 

“Apparently Tony knows about this, but Project Insight is three Helicarriers that target everyone considered a threat and fires upon them. The targeting system is supposed to read everyone on the planet, and pre-emptively hit them,” Stevie explained. “It’s holding a gun to everyone on the planet and calling it freedom.”

 

“I’ll admit that’s really shady. Who is a threat? What constitutes a threat? The pre-emptive thing is way too Minority Report,” Clint said, stumbling slightly as Lucky pulled on the leash to say hi to another dog.

 

A small Pomeranian bravely sniffed Lucky’s missing eye. The owner of the Pomeranian was less brave.

 

“Oh my! What happened to your poor dog?” the owner gasped.

 

“Lucky’s a rescue. He was thrown into traffic for defending a guy the previous owner was beating” Clint explained casually, way too flippantly for the Pomeranian’s owner.

 

They gasped in shock and rushed away. Jamie pet Lucky’s head, “Pizza Dog!”

 

“That’s right Blue Jay, Lucky is a Pizza Dog,” Clint nodded, stopping as they arrived at the closest coffee shop. “Alright, my treat, what does everyone want?”

 

“Juice!” Jamie cheered happily, “Please!”

 

“Thanks, Clint. I’ll just have a black coffee.”

 

“Juice for the Blue Jay, Bitter Bean Water for Stevie, got it,” Clint said, walking into the coffee shop.

 

“Mommy worried about something,” Jamie said, looking at Stevie seriously.

 

Stevie sighed and nodded slowly, “Yeah I am. I’m losing trust in SHIELD, honey.”

 

Jamie nodded, “Good. Stay in New York with Unca Tony and Unca Bruce.”

 

“We just might end up doing that soon,” Stevie admitted, thinking about how SHIELD had been spying on her and her daughter in the comfort of their own home.

 

She would be having words with Tony about Project Insight to find out just how much of the project he knew about.

 

Clint returned with a bottle of orange juice, two coffees, a cake pop, and dog treat.

 

“Thanks Clint,” Stevie said, as he handed her her coffee.

 

Jamie opened the juice bottle herself and drank the juice happily. Lucky gobbled up his treat quickly, and they started walking toward the Smithsonian.

 

“When I get to New York I’ll talk to Stark about Insight,” Clint told her, “I’m a phone call away if you find out any more information of need back up for anything.”

 

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

They walked towards the Smithsonian, and Clint checked the time. “I’m going to have to bounce. Take care of yourselves.”

 

“Will do,” Stevie nodded, “Give Tony a real interrogation for me.”

 

“Aye, Aye, Captain!” Clint saluted, “See you in a few days, Jamie!”

 

“Bye Unca Clint! Bye Lucky!” Jamie waved, finishing her juice.

 

Stevie finished her coffee and threw the cup and bottle away before leading Jamie into the Smithsonian to the Captain America exhibit. Jamie knew the way by heart, but it was busy, so she stopped herself from running off on her own. They passed the old uniforms on display, and all the pre-serum, post-serum comparison photos to see the giant image of Bucky’s head.

 

"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Stephanie Rogers were inseparable on both school yard and battlefield. Only a year before they both joined the army, Rogers and Barnes were married, making her Stephanie Barnes. Sargent Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country, two weeks before Captain Barnes forced the plane down in the arctic," the narrator said at the display for Bucky.

 

A video of Peggy was playing near it. Peggy looked about ten years older than she had at the end of the war. Jamie bounced over to the photo slideshow of her parents smiling, getting married, and dancing.

 

"That was a difficult winter. A blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German line. Stevie…Captain Barnes, she fought her way through a Hydra blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. She saved over a thousand men, including her husband and the man who would…who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after she died, Stevie was still playing wing woman in my life," Peggy was telling the interviewer, "If you'd seen the determination on her face to go in there and come back with her husband! They would have walked through hell for each other. I can only hope that they're together now."

 

Stevie smile wistfully at the pictures of Bucky. Jamie turned to Bucky’s giant head.

 

“Hi, Daddy,” Jamie said to the translucent head, “Mommy misses you. Work has Mommy worried, so we might be staying in New York for a while. Don’t worry, Mommy and I will come back to visit, just not as often.”

 

Stevie bit down on her lip so as to avoid either saying something or crying.

 

“Bye-bye Daddy,” Jamie said, turning to look at Stevie, who sent her daughter a shaky smile.

 

“Oh that was precious,” somebody said, and Stevie turned to see a woman standing with her son looking at Jamie and Stevie with sad look in her eyes. “Don’t worry, we won’t say anything to anyone.”

 

“Thank you,” Stevie nodded, before guiding Jamie out of the Smithsonian.

 

“Where are we going now, Mommy?” Jamie asked, holding her hands up to be picked up again.

 

“We’re going to visit my new friend at the VA. His name is Sam,” Stevie told her, flagging a taxi.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

They arrived at the VA in time to catch the end of a support session that Sam was running. Stevie and Jamie waited until it was over to approach him.

 

"Look who it is. The running woman," Sam said, walking away from the remnants of a PTSD meeting when he noticed them walking towards him. “And is that the famous Jamie Barnes I see?”

 

“Yes!” Jamie said, smiling and accepting the fist bump he offered her.

 

"Caught the last few minutes. It’s pretty intense," Stevie noted, nodding towards the people.

 

"Yeah, sister, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret," Sam shrugged, folding a piece of paper into an airplane and handing it to Jamie.

 

“Thanks!” Jamie said, tossing it and running down the hall after it.

 

"You lose someone?" Stevie asked quietly, keeping an eye on Jamie as she caught the plane and threw it back the way she’d come.

 

"My wingman, Riley. Flying the night mission. A standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn’t done a thousand times before, till RPG knock Riley’s dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It’s like I was up there just to watch," Sam shook his head.

 

"I’m sorry," Stevie said, thinking of Bucky, screaming as he fell.

 

"After that, I had really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?" Sam said, frowning at the nod Stevie gave him.

 

"But you’re happy now, back in the world?" Stevie questioned thinking about the conversation with Fury before the whole Tesseract fiasco.

 

"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell, yeah. You thinking about getting out?" Sam replied, glancing around with a slight smirk.

 

"No. I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know what I would do with myself if I did," Stevie shrugged, frowning at the thought of her recent distrust of SHIELD.

 

"Ultimate fighting?" Sam suggested, causing Stevie to laugh, "It’s just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy?"

 

"I don’t know," Stevie replied, pulling her dog tags out again. “I guess Jamie. I keep doing things that made me happy before losing Bucky, but it’s not really the same as it used to be.”

 

She'd taken to wearing her engagement and wedding rings on her finger like before the war. The ring to Commandos gave her was still hanging with her tags, though.

 

"What's that?" Sam asked nodding towards the ring.

 

"I got it a couple hours before I went under. The Commandos were worried about me after Bucky died, so they got Howard to make a charm for all of them, Peggy and Bucky for me to take with me. Howard even etched his name in the ring. It's all my friends with me," Stevie explained, feeling tears prick her eyes.

 

"You know that it's ok to cry," Sam told her, causing her to let out a small chuckle, "You said that they were worried about you?"

 

"I uh, I became a little self-destructive after I watched my husband die. I nearly drank the army's liquor supply dry because I can't get drunk. It's a blessing and a curse. I couldn't get Bucky's face out of my mind. Still can't. That scream…that scream and going under are my two most popular reoccurring nightmares. Red Skull literally burning to pieces from touching the Tesseract is a close third," Stevie explained with a shudder.

 

Sam was frowning and Jamie caught the plane again. She tossed it down the hall and took off again.

 

"I'm trying to imagine and now trying not to imagine a man being burnt by pure energy," Sam said flatly.

 

"You don't want me to describe. It was more like his skin just flaked off and into the constellations that had suddenly appeared inside the plane. He was burning though," Stevie said with a slight shiver as she remembered him yelling, "He was screaming, too."

 

"Man, you had the worst luck with your war! You went against guys who fired jets of light that disintegrated people!" Sam snapped, shaking his head.

 

"Yeah, that was bad," Stevie nodded, noting Sam's expression that screamed 'understatement.'

 

Jamie ran back over to Stevie and grabbed her arm. “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

 

“It appears we must go, Jamie is hungry,” Stevie told Sam.

 

“Hey, kid’s got to eat!” Sam smiled, looking at Jamie. “It was nice meeting you Jamie.”

 

“Nice meeting you, too!” Jamie partially parroted, waving at him with the hand holding the airplane and tugging Stevie down the hall with the other hand.

 

“Bye Sam!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After a quick stop for sandwiches at a café, Stevie and Jamie made it home. They passed Kate, the nice nurse who lived next door on their way in.

 

“Hello Kate,” Stevie greeted.

 

“Hi, Stevie, oh, I think you left the music on when you left today,” Kate said, jerking her head at Stevie’s door, music softly playing from inside the apartment.

 

“Thanks Kate,” Stevie nodded, fighting the sinking feeling in her stomach.

 

“We didn’t listen to any music today,” Jamie said in confusion, looking up at Stevie worriedly.

 

“I know honey. Stay quiet and stay at the door until I let you in,” Stevie ordered, climbing out the hall window and climbing around the side of the building to climb through her own window.

 

She landed in her dark apartment and grabbed her shield and searched the apartment to find Fury sitting by the window in the shadows. Stevie opened her mouth to snap at him, but shook her head and turned around to let Jamie in. Jamie grabbed Stevie’s leg as Stevie walked back into the living room.

 

“Unca Nick,” Jamie said in surprise, “You scared us. We thought there were bad guys.”

 

“Sorry, Jamie,” Fury told her quietly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

 

"I don’t remember giving you a key," Stevie told him sternly.

 

"You really think I’d need one? My wife kicked me out," Fury replied with a grunt, sitting farther back in the shadows.

 

"Didn’t know you were married," Stevie said, tilting her head and holding onto Jamie’s shoulder to stop her jumping on Fury.

 

"There are a lot of things you don’t about me," Fury shot back.

 

"I know, Nick. That’s the problem," Stevie sighed, going to turn on the light.

 

Fury was bleeding and covered in injuries. Jamie gasped in terror, her hands covering her mouth. He switched the light back off and held out his phone.

 

The message said: **'ears everywhere'**

 

"I’m sorry to have do this, but I had no place else to crash," He sighed, holding out another message that read: **'SHIELD compromised'**

 

"Who else knows about your wife?" Stevie asked curiously, he showed a message to reply: **'You and me'**

 

"Just…my friends," he said aloud, getting to his feet.

 

"Is that what we are?" Stevie sassed, raising an eyebrow.

 

"That’s up to you. Your kid already gave me the Uncle status, so I assumed we already were," Fury smirked, as suddenly, three shots rang out.

 

Stevie's window is smashed open and Fury let out a low cry and fell to the floor. Jamie started screaming bloody murder. Stevie glanced out the window to try and see the shooter. Fury coughed and held up a flash drive, the same one Natasha was retrieving on their pervious mission.

 

"Don’t…trust anyone!" Fury said, passing out as soon as he shoved it into her hands.

 

"Captain Barnes?" Stevie heard the voice of Kate and then the door being opened.

 

Stevie turned, seeing Kate holding a gun. Jamie climbed up Stevie’s body like a monkey climbing a tree.

 

"Captain, I’m Agent 13 of SHIELD’s Special Service," Kate said slowly.

 

"Kate?" Stevie gasped.

 

"I’m assigned to protect you," Kate told her, lowering her gun.

 

"On whose order?" Stevie snapped, glaring.

 

"His," Kate replied, seeing Fury on the ground and contacting SHIELD, "Foxtrot is down, he’s unresponsive. I need EMTs."

 

"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" The agent on the other end asked.

 

"Tell them I’m in pursuit," Stevie replied, noticing a man with long brown hair, holding a sniper rifle. “Jamie, stay here with Kate, I’m going to be right back!”

 

“NO!” Jamie screamed, struggling as Kate pulled her away from Stevie and Stevie took off after the shooter.

 

Stevie jumped through her broken window, across the street, and through the window across the street. She chased him through an office building. She smashed through some walls and doors before finally catching up to him on a roof.

 

Stevie threw her shield at the assassin with a slight grunt, but he spun and caught it with a metal arm. He met her eyes and Stevie was hit by a tidal wave of déjà vu. His eyes looked so much like Bucky’s, so much so that Stevie could have sworn he _was_ Bucky, but Bucky was dead. The familiarity and similarities of his eyes took her breath away.

 

He swiftly threw her shield back to her and jumped off of the building. Stevie caught her shield, sliding back a few feet with the force of the throw, and raced to the edge of the building to find not even a single trace of him having been there except for the damage in he apartment.

 

Stevie turned and raced back to her apartment, where Jamie was screaming and crying. Medics were rushing Fury’s body out.

 

“Captain Barnes?” Kate asked, drawing her attention away from the EMTs frantically trying to keep Fury alive.

 

“Lost him,” Stevie admitted, pulling Jamie into her arms and burring her face in her daughter’s shoulder. “I’m sorry baby, I’m so, so sorry.”

 

Jamie clung to Stevie, sobbing into her shirt.


	3. Loses and Bread Crumbs

Jamie cried until she fell asleep. Stevie held her daughter close as she stood in the hospital hall way, watching the doctors trying to save Fury. Natasha came almost skidding to a stop beside her.

 

"Is he gonna make it?" Natasha asked, still slightly out of breath from having run into the hospital.

 

"I don’t know," Stevie replied, looking at Fury's too still body and his quickly moving doctors.

 

"Tell me about the shooter," Natasha demanded, causing Stevie to close her eyes to see him.

 

"He’s fast and strong. He had a metal arm."

 

His eyes were exactly like Bucky’s. Stevie opened her own eyes again and tightened her grip on Jamie just a little bit. Maria joined them then, her face a mixture of worry and forced calm.

 

"Ballistics?" Natasha asked Maria.

 

"Three slugs. No rifling and completely untraceable," Maria replied, frowning at the lack of information on the shooter.

 

"Soviet made?" Natasha's voice shook slightly.

 

"Yeah," Maria said with surprise, glancing at Natasha just as the doctors started panicking.

 

It was a flurry of movement, and Stevie reacted into her pocket to grab that flash drive Fury gave her in her free hand.

 

"He’s dropping!" The first doctor shouted.

 

"Crash cart coming in!" The nurse exclaimed.

 

"Nurse, help me with the gauzes, please. BP is dropping. Defibrillator!" The second doctor demanded, just as Fury flat lined, "Charge to one hundred."

 

"Don’t do this to me, Nick," Natasha whispered, sounding as if she were going to cry.

 

"Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The second doctor called, delivering a shock, "Pulse?"

 

"No pulse," the first doctor replied grimly.

 

"Okay. Charge to two hundred, please. Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" The second doctor called, "Give me epinephrine! Pulse?"

 

"Negative," the first doctor sighed.

 

"Don’t do this to me, Nick. Don’t do this to me," Natasha chanted, and Stevie noticed her eyes start to fill with tears.

 

The doctors kept trying, but Stevie had to turn away.

 

"What’s the time?" The first doctor finally asked.

 

"1:03, Doctor," the nurse answered immediately.

 

"Time of death, 1:03 A.M."

 

As soon as the second doctor said that, Stevie glanced down at the flash drive Fury had given her. She dropped it in her pocket again and walked away from the window to the other side of the hall, gently placing Jamie on a chair and pulling Natasha into a quick hug. Natasha tensed for a moment, before melting into the hug.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Stevie saw Maria talking to a doctor.

 

“You give mom hugs,” Natasha muttered into Stevie’s shoulder.

 

“Being able to give mom hugs is a requirement of being a mother,” Stevie replied quietly, letting go of Natasha and taking a step back.

 

Stevie looked at Natasha, practically forcing her to meet her eyes. When Natasha gave her a small nod, Stevie turned back and picked up Jamie again. Together with Maria, the two female Avengers followed a doctor out of the hall and towards the morgue.

 

They didn’t have to wait too long before orderlies showed up with Fury’s body. They lay him on a table in front of the three women and the sleeping child with a sheet covering the lower half of his body.

 

Stevie gently woke Jamie up, “Jamie, baby, you need to wake up for a moment. You need to say goodbye to Uncle Fury.”

 

Jamie squirmed in her arms, waking up with a yawn. Jamie whimpered quietly when she saw Fury on the table.

 

“Why didn’t doctors save him?” Jamie asked, looking into Stevie’s eyes for a reassuring answer.

 

“Sometimes people are too hurt for the doctors to fix. He was already really hurt when he came to us, and he’s a normal human Jamie. He’s not as durable as us,” Stevie explained, “We have to say goodbye to him now here, but we’ll be able to visit his grave and talk to him how we talk to Daddy in the Smithsonian.”

 

Jamie nodded and looked over at Fury’s body again. “Bye Unca Nick. We come talk to you again soon, and I bring a picture of a horsy.”

 

“I’m sure he’ll love a picture of a horse,” Stevie said, offering Fury a salute.

 

Natasha walked up to Fury’s body and just stood over his head quietly. Stevie slowly set Jamie on the ground, holding her daughter’s hand tightly.

 

“I need to take him,” Maria told Stevie, who stepped up to Natasha.

 

“Natasha,” Stevie said quietly, picking up Jamie again.

 

Natasha lay a hand on Fury’s head before striding out of the room angrily. Stevie followed her quickly. The hall was filled with SHIELD personnel, including all of the STRIKE team.

 

“Natasha!” Stevie called after her, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.

 

“Why was Fury in your apartment?” Natasha demanded bluntly.

 

“I dunno,” Stevie lied, rubbing Jamie’s back before putting her down again.

 

“Cap, they want you back at SHIELD,” Rumlow said, walking up to them.

 

“Yeah, ok. Give me a second,” Stevie responded, before glancing back at Natasha.

 

“They want you now,” Rumlow told her, more force in his tone this time.

 

“Ok,” Stevie replied almost sarcastically, as Rumlow finally looked at Jamie.

 

“Hey there Little Troublemaker. The boss is calling your mom in at work,” Rumlow smiled, crouching down to be at Jamie’s height.

 

Jamie leveled him with a dead eyed glare, obviously not in the mood to deal with him.

 

“You’re a terrible liar. I’ll look after her,” Natasha promised as Rumlow got up and headed back down the hall.

 

Stevie slipped the flash drive into Jamie’s pocket while hugging her goodbye.

 

“Don’t take that out of your pocket, you hear me?” Stevie whispered into her ear.

 

“Promise,” Jamie nodded, giving her mother a kiss on the cheek.

 

“Let’s go,” Stevie turned and followed Rumlow down the hall.

 

“STRIKE move it out! She sure looks like her dad,” Rumlow commented as they walked toward the car.

 

“You have no idea,” Stevie replied with a tired half-smile, that turned into a frown when he and Rollins shared a quick glance that almost looked as though they were humouring her in some way.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Alexander Pierce was frustrating. He kept spinning stories about Fury hiring pirates to do his dirty work and trying to get her to tell him information about Fury. She already knew SHIELD was compromised, so she wasn’t going to say anything. She walked out of the meeting knowing that she was going to be taken in to be properly interrogated.

 

Stevie glared as she stepped into the elevator, just about ready for the day to end.

 

"Operations control," She demanded.

 

"Confirmed," the SHIELD computer announced, just as the doors we about to close.

 

The doors opened again quickly, and Rumlow stepped in, followed by two agents.

 

"All STRIKE personal on site," Rumlow ordered.

 

The agents replied with: "Understood," and "Yes, sir."

 

"Forensics," Rumlow told the computer.

 

"Confirmed," chimed the computer.

 

"Cap."

 

"Rumlow," Stevie nodded, moving to make more room for him and his agents.

 

"Evidence response found some fibres on the roof they want us to see. You want me to get the tac-team ready?" Rumlow asked as the doors closed.

 

"No, let’s wait and see what it is first," Stevie suggested, tilting her head.

 

"Right," Rumlow nodded, while Stevie noticed one of the agents touch his gun.

 

The doors opened again, and two more agents stepped in.

 

"What’s the status so far?" The first of the new pair asked.

 

"Administrations level," the second agent announced.

 

"Confirmed."

 

"Excuse me," the agent who had just spoken said to Stevie, moving to stand behind her.

 

"Um…sorry about what happened with Fury. Messed up what happened to him, especially in front of the kid," Rumlow said, almost awkwardly to Stevie.

 

"Thank you," Stevie told him, watching the agents around her.

 

Something was off. Did they really think she was that stupid? First that fake hospital when she woke up, now this. One of the agents was sweating. Another had his hand on his gun. As she noticed this, the elevator stopped again, and another three agents stepped in.

 

"Records," one of the new arrivals ordered.

 

"Confirmed."

 

The doors shut.

 

"Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?" Stevie offered, noticing that she was surrounded.

 

There was a single moment of hesitation, when suddenly one of the agents turned, brandishing an electric rod. The others grabbed her arms, trying to strap magnetic cuffs to her. She managed to knock them down and escape one cuff, but the second one stuck her to the side of the elevator. Rumlow managed to stab her in the stomach with his electric rod.

 

Stevie screamed, and he jabbed her again. Furiously, she managed to pull the cuff off of the wall of the elevator and knock all the agents except Rumlow out. She spun to face him.

 

"Woah, big girl. I just want you to know, Cap, this ain’t personal," Rumlow told her, moving in to attack again, twirling a pair if stun sticks as he moved.

 

Stevie dodged, moving around him and knocking him out.

 

"It kind of feels personal," Stevie said, kicking her shield into her hand and using it to break the last metal cuff.

 

She stopped the elevator and opened the doors, only to see a STRIKE team pointing weapons at her. She closed those doors and checked the next level down.

 

"Drop the shield! Put your hands in the air!" The leader of another STRIKE team yelled.

 

To that statement, she spun, cutting the cable that held up the elevator. The emergency breaks kicked in. 

 

"Give it up, Barnes! Get that door open! You have nowhere to go!"

 

She closed the door in response and threw herself out the glass window of the elevator. Angling herself, Stevie landed on her shield. Groaning slightly, she got to her feet and raced to the garage. Hopping onto her motorcycle, she managed to make it through the gate before it closed.

 

A Quinjet flew up to guard the bridge she was driving across.

 

"Stand down, Captain Barnes. Stand down!" The pilot ordered, lowering the machine gun, "Repeat, stand down!"

 

Stevie didn't stop and swerved from side to side to avoid the gun fire. Throwing her shield, she jammed the propellers and hopped onto the top of the jet. Pulling her shield back, she bounced it off of the tail ends of the jet before jumping back of onto her still moving bike with her shield in hand.

 

Stevie took off back to the hospital, ditching her uniform for some civvies as she went. After Clint found bugs in her apartment, and Fury admitted to them being there, she wouldn’t have put them past placing trackers in her suit.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“So, Jamie tells me that Fury gave you this drive,” Natasha said, holding up the flash drive in question when she saw Stevie approaching. “Why’d he do that and what’s on it?”

 

Stevie froze and narrowed her eyes at her, “You don’t know what’s on it?”

 

“No,” Natasha frowned at the look on Stevie’s face. “I only act like I know everything. I don’t know what’s on the drive, but I do know who killed Fury.”

 

Stevie shot Jamie a disappointed look. Jamie wrapped her arms around Stevie’s leg.

 

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” Jamie said with her best puppy dog eyes fixed on her face.

 

“It’s ok sweetheart. Aunty Nat is the hardest person to hide things from,” Stevie sighed, before looking back at Natasha. “Tell me who he is.”

 

“Most of the intelligence community doesn’t believe he exists, but the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The entire way to the mall Stevie was on edge. Natasha’s brief on the Winder Soldier, that man who had Bucky’s eyes, was rattling her. A ghost assassin who had been credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years. That was an impossibly long time for an assassin to be active, and his eyes…

 

They pulled into the mall parking lot. Natasha jumped out of the car, and Stevie carefully helped Jamie out of her car seat. They walked into the mall, Jamie holding Stevie’s hand, and walked to an Apple store. 

 

“The drive has a homing signal so as soon as we plug it in, SHIELD will know where we are,” Natasha said, opening up a program in the apple computer.

 

Stevie made sure her hair was firmly hidden in her hat as readjusted her grip on Jamie.

 

“How long do we have?” Stevie asked using the computer next to Natasha’s to pull up YouTube and look up the Bubble Guppies that Sam had suggested.

 

She stared almost dumbly at the _mermaid dog_ she had seen in the books before playing an episode for Jamie and picking her up so she could see the show.

 

“Nine minutes from…now,” Natasha said, frowning as she typed.

 

Jamie pointed at the character Stevie was dubbing ‘Mer-Dog’ in her head.

 

“I want one! I want a mermaid puppy!” Jamie exclaimed, “Mommy can we get a mermaid puppy?”

 

“I’ll talk to Uncle Tony, and we’ll see what he and Uncle Bruce can do,” Stevie replied absentmindedly, before looking at the screen of Natasha’s computer, “Nat, you said nine minutes.”

 

“This this is protected by some kind on AI algorithm that keeps rewriting itself. The person who designed this is slightly smarter than me,” Natasha admitted, “Slightly. I can get a location of the router that the AI came from, though. That won’t take a minute.”

 

“Hello, there! Do you need help with anything?” a sales associate asked approaching them.

 

“No, my sister and I were looking at out of town daycares for her daughter,” Natasha lied, smiling at Jamie who pointed at the Mer-Dog.

 

“The mermaid puppy is my favourite!” Jamie told the man.

 

“Mine too!” the associate said, smiling at the excited two-year-old.

 

“Mommy said she would talk to my Uncle about making one! He’s really good at making stuff!”

 

“That’s really awesome! I guess I’ll leave you to your searching! If you need anything, I’ve been Aaron,” the sales associate said, holding out his name tag before walking away.

 

“Got the location,” Natasha reported, causing Stevie to look over quickly.

 

Stephanie frowned as she recognized the coordinates to her old training camp.

 

“Do you know it?” Natasha asked quietly.

 

“I did,” Stevie replied, readjusting her grip on Jamie as they removed the drive and closed the programs on the computer.

 

They left the store quickly, and Stevie located the STRIKE team immediately. She started reporting their patterns and movements to Natasha, asking her to take Jamie and run if they made them. Two agents were walking towards them.

 

“Jamie complain about wanting ice cream,” Natasha ordered, nodding at an ice cream store they passed.

 

“I want ice cream!” Jamie complained loudly, “Mommy! Mommy please! Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream!”

 

She even added in a little bouncy motion in Stevie’s arms. The team just walked right past them, as Natasha casually stole a chocolate bar.

 

“Good girl,” Natasha said, handing Jamie the stolen treat, “Stevie, your two-year old daughter makes a better spy than you.”

 

“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” Stevie grumbled as they made their way to the escalator, “She’s actually used to her serum enhanced body. I still accidentally rip doors off their hinges when I’m tired.”

 

On the escalator, Natasha and Stevie both noticed Rumlow heading in their direction.

 

“Excuse me, sir, sorry about this, but my ex-boyfriend is heading over towards us,” Natasha said to the man standing behind Stevie.

 

Stevie stepped to the side, allowing Natasha to cover her from the side as the spy grabbed the man and kissed him. Stevie kept her expression completely straight when the man made a slightly startled but also way too happy sound at the unexpected kiss.

 

“Thank you so much!” Natasha told him as she pulled away from him, “And I’m sorry again for grabbing you like that!”

 

“You can make it up to me with a cup of coffee,” the guy said, sounding slightly breathless.

 

Natasha whipped out a pen and scribbled a number on the back of the man’s hand, and Stevie focused on the chocolate that somehow had covered her daughter’s face. Jamie finished her chocolate and handed Stevie the wrapper.

 

“I’m free next week,” she winked before stepping off the escalator with a decidedly uncomfortable Stevie following her.

 

“Why did Aunty Nat kiss that man?” Jamie asked quietly as they quickly walked out of the mall.

 

“Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable,” Natasha replied with a shrug.

 

“Yes, they do,” Stevie agreed, clearing her throat like she’d wanted to do on the escalator, “Jamie Barnes you are absolutely covered in chocolate!”

 

Natasha pick-pocketed a passing mother for some wet wipes. Stevie frowned slightly as she wiped the chocolate off her daughter’s face and hands. Bundling the wipes and the chocolate together, Stevie tossed their garbage away.

 

“You’re not a particularly good role model if you keep stealing stuff Natasha,” Stevie complained, handing her daughter to Natasha as she promptly began stealing a car.


	4. Ramping Up

“Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?” Natasha asked, her feet propped up on the dashboard.

 

“Nazi Germany,” Stevie replied with a sigh, glancing at a sleeping Jamie in the back seat, “and we’re borrowing, take your feet off the dash.”

 

“I have a question for you. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to, but you’re kinda answering it by not answering,” Natasha stated, taking her feet off the dash.

 

“Spit it out, Natasha.”

 

“Have you been kissed since nineteen forty-five?” Natasha asked, smirking at Stevie, who let out a quiet huff.

 

The subject of her love life again, probably brought on by how tense Stevie had been when Natasha kissed that random man.

 

“Yes, I’ve been kissed since nineteen forty-five! I’m ninety, not dead,” Stevie frowned, keeping the ‘I had to knock the guy out because he was drunk and it was six thirty in the morning,’ out of her answer.

 

“The look on your face says that it wasn’t a good kiss,” Natasha observed curiously.

 

So much for keeping Natasha unaware of the drunk man that tried to make-out with her on the street.

 

“I didn’t want to kiss the guy.”

 

“Uh, oh. Do I need to kill anybody?” Natasha demanded with a deadly frown.

 

“I laid him out flat immediately after he kissed me. I had Jamie with me, and I was going for my morning run. He was very drunk and very excited to see Captain America in a tight shirt,” Stevie glared at the road, “Police picked him up, and another jogger told them they’d seen him run up, grab and kiss me while I was retying my kid’s shoe lace. I said I didn’t want to press charges, because I’m pretty sure I gave him a concussion.”

 

“Smart. Keeps the incident off SHIELD’s radar and out of the newspapers. Headline would read ‘Captain American Fights off Attempted Sexual Assault While Walking with Daughter.’ Speaking of Jamie, you sure we should be bringing her?” Natasha questioned quietly, looking back at Jamie.

 

“No, but I’ve nowhere to take her where she’ll be safe. I wish I could get her to Tony where she’ll be safe while we deal with this, but we’d be noticed immediately,” Stevie answered honestly as she drove to her old training camp, “I just want to be a good mother. Like my mom was. I want Jamie to grow up to be stronger and smarter than me.”

 

“I’m sure she will be,” Natasha said reassuringly.

 

“I never thought I would ever be a mother. I was too weak when I was younger. Then the war, Bucky, the ice…” Stevie trailed off, “I’m failing her already. I’m failing both of them.”

 

“No, you’re not. You, Stephanie Barnes, have saved the world from aliens, and stopped three terrorist attacks on cities in the past year. Your daughter is your life, and you’ve made sure that even though he is gone, your daughter knows who her father is,” Natasha snapped, “You’ve not failed anyone.”

 

The drove in relative silence after that, Natasha channel surfing on the radio, Stevie the car stopping for potty breaks and snacks along the way.

 

"This is it?" Stevie asked distantly, stopping the car in front of an old army base.

 

"The file came from these coordinates," Natasha shrugged, hopping out of the car and helping Jamie out after her.

 

"So did I," Stevie sighed, getting out if the car and opening the gate, "This camp is where I was trained."

 

They were wandering around the camp, and Stevie felt wave after wave of nostalgia wash over her. Jamie charged around them, running in circles, filled with energy after being cooped up in the car.

 

"Changed much?" Natasha asked.

 

"A little," Stevie whispered, watching her younger-self running along the track.

 

"Pick up the pace, ladies! Let’s go! Let’s go! Double time! Come on Barnes, move it! Come on! Fall in! Rogers! I said fall in!" Her old drill Sargent was yelling as her past-self looked at her present-self.

 

Her past-self ran off, and Stevie was slowly dragged back into the future.

 

"This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off," Natasha complained, causing Stevie to frown and take a closer look at her surroundings, "What is it?"

 

Stevie had noticed something and walked closer to a building that was out of place.

 

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards from the barracks. This building is in the wrong place," Stevie replied, opening the lock with her shield and striding in; flipping on the lights as she went.

 

"This is SHIELD," Natasha gasped, Jamie skipping in and grabbing Natasha’s hand

 

"Maybe where it started," Stevie called, opening the door to another room.

 

There were photos lined up on the wall: Peggy, Howard, and Phillips.

 

"There’s Stark’s father," Natasha said, pointing at Howard.

 

"Howard," Stevie confirmed, hearing an air current.

 

"Who’s the girl?"

 

"Peggy," Stevie answered, looking at a massive bookshelf, "If you already working in a secret office…"

 

Stevie pushed the bookshelf to the side opening it to reveal a secret elevator.

 

"Why do you need to hide the elevator?" Stevie finished her thought.

 

Natasha nodded, letting out something that sounded like 'huh.'

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Zola, Hydra, Howard’s death an assassination not an accident…the building her daughter had been standing in blowing up. This was one of the top three worst days of Stevie’s life. Her mother’s death and Bucky’s death were up there with this day.

 

Stevie turned to look back at the wreckage of the camp she’d been trained in. Jamie sniffed, rubbing her tear stained cheeks from her place in her mother’s left arm. Stevie readjusted her grip on an unconscious Natasha, who she was holding in her right arm.

 

The explosion was loud, and Stevie was left shaking. She'd seen herself back in the factory with Bucky as the world burst into flame around her and seen herself out running exploding Hydra bases again. She’d seen hundreds of explosions in one moment, and it really, really, sucked.

 

Turning her back on the wreckage, Stevie ran away, careful to not drop the people she was carrying. She found a new car to steal and put both Jamie and Natasha down to start hotwiring the thing.

 

“Jamie, you have to be my look out ok? If anyone comes while Mommy’s busy with the car, let her know, ok?” Stevie ordered her daughter.

 

“Ok,” Jamie nodded, setting her face with grim determination.

 

And if Stevie hadn’t seen that look on Bucky’s face a million times.

 

Taking a deep breath to banish ghosts, Stevie broke into the car she’d selected. It didn’t take her long, and Jamie happily lay down to sleep in the back seat, Stevie using blankets and her jacket to make Jamie a makeshift car seat. Stevie lifted Natasha into the passenger seat and buckled her in.

 

Natasha woke up after Stevie had driven a quarter of the way back to DC.

 

"Where are we going?" Natasha asked, a few moments after waking up.

 

"To a friend's," Stevie said shortly.

 

“Sam Wilson?” Natasha asked, receiving a single nod.

 

“Walk from here,” Stevie announced as she parked them in a random neighbourhood within walking distance of Sam’s house.

 

Jamie got out of the car and insisted that Stevie carry her. They made it to Sam’s place and knocked on the back door.

 

“Hey man,” Sam greeted, his expression worried as he took in Stevie and Natasha’s appearances and the toddler on his doorstep.

 

“I’m sorry about this. We need a place to lay low,” Stevie told him, readjusting her grip on Jamie.

 

“Everyone we know is trying to kill us,” Natasha added bluntly.

 

“Not everyone,” Sam disagreed, stepping to the side and letting the Avengers and Jamie through.

 

He glanced around before closing and locking the door. Once he had pulled the blinds down, Sam turned to look at Jamie.

 

“I’ll look after her, you two clean up,” Sam told them as Stevie placed Jamie on the floor.

 

Sam crouched next to Jamie. “Hello again kid. Do you wanna take a nap or help me cook breakfast?”

 

“Nap,” Jamie decided, taking off her shoes and climbing onto his couch.

 

Sam grabbed a blanket and draped it over Jamie, passing Natasha and Stevie in the hall, “You two shower and get more put together.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Stevie, I’m just spit-balling here, but does Jamie have the Serum in her?” Sam asked quietly as Jamie confidentially went to the bathroom by herself, “Because no kid that age is old enough to be almost completely potty-trained. Even her grammar is a little bit advanced.”

 

“Yes,” Stevie replied quietly, “She’s got the serum. Jamie is better at controlling her strength and motor skills than I am, because she was born with it. I think I’m the only person who’d be able to tell the difference on that, by the way. Her memory and overall learning is enhanced, like mine. I can get black belts in a new type of martial arts in a week, she’s potty-trained before she turns three.”

 

“We try to keep things quiet in case of abductions. Captain America is untouchable, but if you go after the kid…” Natasha trailed off, her worried tone making Stevie slump slightly in her chair, “Subject change: the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?"

 

"Pierce," Stevie growled immediately, glancing at Jamie as she climbed onto the chair next to hers.

  
  
"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," Natasha added, raising a disbelieving eye brow.

  
"But he’s not working alone, Zola’s algorithm was on the Lemurian Star," Stevie pointed out.

  
  
"So was Jasper Sitwell," Natasha mused, leaning back in his chair and shoving a slice of orange in her mouth.

  
  
"So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" Stevie smirked.

  
  
"The answer is: you don’t," Sam retorted, dropping a file in front of Stevie.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Call it a resume.”

 

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you," Natasha turned from Sam to Stevie, "You didn’t say he was a para-rescue."  
 

  
"Is this Riley?" Stevie asked pointing at someone in one of the multiple photos in the file.

 

Jamie tried to grab one of the photos, but Stevie put her hand on that photo and put an orange slice in front of Jamie.

  
  
"Yeah," Sam smiled slightly.

  
"I heard they couldn’t bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Natasha asked, glancing at Sam.

  
  
"No. These," Sam smirked handing Stevie the folder.

  
"I thought you said you’re a pilot," Stevie mused with a raised eyebrow.

  
"I never said a pilot," Sam's smirk grew.

  
"I can’t ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason," Stevie started to say,

 

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There’s no better reason to get back in," Sam interrupted.

 

Stevie nodded. Jamie stole a piece of Stevie’s bacon, and Stevie pretended not to notice. 

 

  
"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Stevie asked, nodding towards a photo she was holding.

  
"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall," Sam answered.

 

Stevie looked at Natasha who shrugged her shoulders. "Shouldn’t be a problem."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After the frankly astonishingly easy theft of government property that resulted in Sam getting his wings back, Natasha found Sitwell’s location. They planned how they would get him to talk, and how they would kidnap him, and Sam hurried to get into place while Stevie and Natasha fought over the laser pointer they would use to mimic a sniper.  To both of their embarrassment, Jamie won that fight.

 

Stevie and Natasha crouched beside Jamie giving her the signal for when she was to turn on the laser pointer. The toddler did her job perfectly, and Sam drove Sitwell to the tall building they were going to throw him off of. Jamie stood back while Stevie and Natasha worked when they got their hands on him in person in the elevator of the building. Stevie dragged Sitwell out of the elevator and up the short stairwell to the roof, throwing him into the door so hard it slammed open behind him.

 

“Tell me about Zola’s algorithm,” Stevie demanded, chasing Sitwell towards the edge of the roof.

 

“Never heard of it,” denied Sitwell immediately.

 

“What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?” Stevie pressed.

 

“I was throwing up I get sea sick,” Sitwell said, almost falling off the roof. Stevie grabbed him before he could fall and he looked at her with a slight smirk, “Is this little display supposed to insinuate that you’re going to throw me off the roof? Cause it’s really not your style Barnes, especially not in front of the kid.”

 

“I wanna see the bad man fly!” Jamie called from her place at the door back into the building.

 

Sitwell looked at Jamie with wide and slightly terrified eyes.

 

“You’re right,” Stevie said kindly, straightening Sitwell’s suit. “It’s not. It’s hers.”

 

Natasha kicked Sitwell off the roof. “Made him fly for you, Blue Jay!”

 

Sitwell started screaming.

 

“Yay,” cheered Jamie, clapping her hands as Sam appeared over the side of the building in his wings with Sitwell in tow.

 

Sam dropped Sitwell on the roof and landed behind him. Jamie rushed over to him and stared at his wings before he put them away. As soon as Sam’s wings retracted into his jetpack, Jamie move to stand beside the door again.

 

Sitwell was now in the mood to share more information, panting in fear and gasping as he spoke, “Zola’s algorithm is a program for choosing Insight’s targets.”

 

“What targets?” Stevie snapped.

 

“You, DVA of Cairo, the other Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Stephan Strange, anyone who’s a threat to Hydra, now, or in the future,” Sitwell told her through pants, slowly catching his breath.

 

Stevie frowned at him. “The future? How could it know?”

 

“How could it not? The twenty first century is a digital book. Zola taught Hydra how to read it,” Sitwell looked at all of their faced and saw the slight confusion and elaborated, “Bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores. Zola’s algorithm evaluates people’s past to predict their future.”

 

“What then?” prompted Stevie.

 

Sitwell then seemed to realize he’d just given away top-secret information, “Oh my god, Pierce is going to kill me.”

 

“What then?” Stevie repeated with more force.

 

“Then the Insight Carriers scratch people off the list, a few million at a time,” admitted Sitwell, shaking his head.

 

Jamie walked up to Stevie and grabbed her mother’s hand. “What do we do with the bad man now?”

 

“Well, Jamie, we could kill him now, or keep him to use later,” Stevie said, not taking her eyes off of Sitwell. “What do you think we should do?”

 

“If we keep him, he’s gonna try to run away,” Jamie pointed out, tilting her head. “I don’t want him to run away.”

 

“Good point, Jamie,” Natasha smirked, walking towards Sitwell.

 

Sitwell tried to back away, only to back into Sam. He half turned to look at Sam, before shouting in surprise and pain as Natasha stomped on his left foot hard enough to break one of his toes. Sitwell groaned in pain and whimpered as Sam grabbed him by the back of his jacket.

 

“Let’s go stop Project Insight,” Stevie announced, leading everybody down the stairs, picking Jamie up as they headed back to the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to keep people waiting for the big reveal we're all waiting for, but I'm probably not going to be able to post for a few days because of a screening of short films I wrote/produced/worked on tomorrow and a road trip I'm going on for the long weekend. I will try to post multiple chapters at once as an apology.


	5. Revelations

Outlining the plan to break into the Triskelion using Sitwell in the car, Stevie hugged Jamie in her arms. Stevie refused to leave Jamie in the backseat with Sitwell, even if Natasha was sitting next to him. She didn’t know how she was going to do this mission while worrying about Jamie the whole time. She needed all hands on deck, and she knew she would spend the whole mission with Jamie on her mind. That worried her, because there was a chance she’d run into the Winter Soldier. She hadn’t really fought him, but the way he’d caught her shield and the force he’d thrown it back to her told her that they we probably evenly matched. It had been a while since she faced somebody truly an even match for her. She was called a Super Soldier for a reason.

 

Sitwell was protesting, like he had been for the past ten minutes, when somebody landed on the roof of the car. A metal arm reached through the window and dragged Sitwell out of the car and tossed him into on coming traffic.

 

Jamie started screaming. Natasha was suddenly in Stevie’s lap, pulling Stevie and Jamie and pushing Sam out of the way as three gun shots rang out and three bullets found their place in the car seats. Stevie threw the car into park. The car screeched to a halt and Stevie found herself staring at the Winter Soldier as he flew off the roof of the car and flipped back onto his feet, using his arm to slow his momentum to a stop.

 

Stevie found herself glad that those hauntingly familiar eyes were hidden behind goggles attached to his muzzle-like mask. It would make it easier for her to kill him for what he did to Fury and hunting her daughter when he didn’t remind her of Bucky.

 

Jamie crawled from her place partially pinned to her mother by Natasha’s body so as to be sitting on both Stevie and Natasha, when the Winter Soldier straightened up, Natasha pointed her gun at him, and a dark grey vehicle crashed into them from behind. Jamie screamed again. Natasha dropped her gun. Sam frantically steered so as to keep the car straight as they were rammed, the car still in parked. The Winter Soldier jumped back onto the car, his shoes smashing in what was left of the rear window.

 

Natasha managed to get a hold of her gun again, just as a metal hand smashed through the windshield and pulled the steering wheel out of Sam’s hands. Sam shouted a few choice expletives, which Stevie registered but elected to ignore despite Jamie’s parrot-like tendencies to repeat things. In all honesty, she wanted to scream out the many long and creative phrases she learned in the army.

 

After discarding the steering wheel, the Winter Soldier jumped onto the hood of the car that was ramming them. One more hit to the back of their car, and they were slammed into the barrier in the median.

 

Stevie slipped her arm into the straps of her shield, which she had braced against the door, as they started to barrel roll.

 

Pulling Jamie, Natasha, and Sam closer to her, Stevie shouted “Hold on!”

 

Timing it so that her door was parallel to the ground, Stevie headbutted the door frame and window hard enough to break the door off the car’s frame. They skidded across the overpass, Sam falling off their frantic dog pile as they slowly lost momentum.  Stevie, Natasha, and Sam jumped to their feet, Stevie pulling Jamie to her feet by her arm as she moved. Stevie turned to see the Winter Soldier aiming a grenade gun at her and pushed both Jamie and Natasha out of the way, barely getting her shield up in time.

 

The grenade blasted her back into a car, off the overpass, and into a bus.

 

“MOMMY!” Jamie screamed as Stevie was thrown into the air.

 

The bus she’d slammed into ran a red light and crashed flipping on its side.

 

For the first time in a long time, Stevie blacked out. Waking up in and over turned bus, Stevie groaned, getting back up and trying to find Jamie and her shield. She didn’t know exactly when she lost it, but since people were still evacuating the bus, she hadn’t lost much time. Just as she got to her fee, a machine gun opened fire on the bus she was in.

 

Running out of the bus, Stevie dived out of the bus and for her shield sitting just feet away from the bus. Curling up behind her shield, Stevie found herself under heavy fire. Peaking around the bus she located several people she identified as Hydra agents, and quickly mapped out the angles she’d have to tilt her shield to reflect the machine gun fire into them.

 

Charging, Stevie did just that, running up to the man with the machine gun and taking him out quickly. One man she missed opened fire, only for Sam to appear, still on the overpass, returning fire.

 

“Go, I got this!” Sam shouted, “I’ve got Jamie too!”

 

Stevie ran in the direction of the screams, gun shots, and explosions that seemed to herald the Winter Soldier. She heard Natasha’s voice, “GET OUT OF THE WAY!” and then a cry of pain. Picking up speed, Stevie charged the Soldier and threw up her shield as he spun to punch her with his metal arm. For some reason the goggle part of his mask was gone.

 

The impact of his fist made her shield ring in a way she’d never heard before, and the Soldier swiped her shield out of the way so as to kick her. Both of them fell backwards, recovering at the same time. Stevie turtled again, a term Tony came up with to describe her putting her whole body behind the shield, as the Winter Soldier aimed his rifle and fired on her.

 

Stevie couldn’t afford for this to be a long fight. She needed to get to Jamie, and she needed to get somewhere safe. Already she knew this fight was going to take longer than she was ready to waste. Unfortunately, the time she should be using to hide Jamie was being used fighting the man with Bucky’s eyes.

 

Rolling to keep her shield protecting her, Stevie moved around a parked car as the Soldier abandoned his rifle for another gun he had on his person. Dodging and blocking bullets with her shield, Stevie leapt over the car and kicked the gun out of his hands for him to spin and draw _another_ gun, fire on her shield. Stevie managed to make him drop it with a punch. Again, he batted her shield out of the way, his strength easily rivaling hers as he forced her arms open, making her both block a punch and taking a hit to the face.

 

He took a hold of the edge of her shield and twisted. She found herself being flipped in the air and her shield being pulled off her arm. She managed to block a few punches before receiving one to the chest that sent her rolling across the ground. Stevie found herself facing him, and saw a ghost holding her shield for a split second. The last time somebody else has been holding her shield the way the Winter Soldier was, Bucky had been blasted off a high-speed train. The shock of the flash back alone snapped Stevie out of it, getting her back on her feet. The Solder threw her shield back at her, and Stevie dodged the shield, taking note of where it landed in the van behind her.

 

The Soldier flipped a knife around his fingers and started slashing at her. Stevie blocked his arms and almost heard Howard’s voice in her ear, telling her that “Hydra’s not going after you with a pocket knife” and wanting to scoff at the irony if it wasn’t for the fact the Winter Soldier was moving just as fast as she was. She wasn’t slowing herself down to make it a fair fight like she’d been doing so recently.

 

She managed to knock the knife out of his hand, only for him to catch it again. He slammed his palm into the center of her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs in a way she hadn’t felt in a long time. She managed to knock the knife out of his hand again and kick him into a van at the same time. Stevie didn’t give the Soldier time to recover before driving her knee into his chest and slamming him back further into the van.

 

She tried to follow with a punch, but he blocked it, getting a hit in on her. Stevie used that to her advantage to flip him onto the ground with his flesh arm. He righted himself and grabbed her around the neck with his metal arm. He pulled her close to him and then threw her back over the hood of the van she’d slammed him into. Stevie gasped for breath barely rolling out of the way when the Winter Soldier leapt over the hood of the van and cracked the asphalt where her head had just been.

 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jamie hiding behind the tire of a near by car. Stevie wanted to scream at Sam, wherever he was, for not having Jamie.

 

Stevie found herself on her feet, taking multiple punches to the arm when she heard Jamie scream for her again. Forcing herself to ignore the scream as she was shoved and then kicked back into the van so as to catch the second knife the Soldier had pulled on her before it was buried in her eye, Stevie grunted in pain. Jamie screamed again as Stevie managed to pull her head out of the way and let the Solider burry the knife in the side of the van. Stevie ran to her left, the knife cutting through metal beside her head.  

 

Stevie dropped under his arm and flipped him, realizing she was against the van her shield was in, arming herself again. She turned in time to see the Winter Soldier coming at her again with the same relentlessness she knew she herself was dreaded for, the clang of metal on metal ringing out with the knife hitting her shield. He slashed at her head, which she dodged, then brought his arm down on her shield, dropping the knife into his other hand. He got a punch in on her face before he tried for a kick, which she blocked with a quick shield readjustment, before she got around his back and slammed her shield into his metal arm.

 

With a quick swing of her shield, it was pulled out of his now damaged arm and hit in in the face. Grabbing the Winter Soldier by the chin, Stevie flipped him over her back pulling his mask off of his face.

 

The Winter Soldier turned and looked at her and Stevie’s heart stopped.

 

The air in her lungs rushed out faster than when he hit her in the chest.

 

Everything shifted as her world rocked and her vision narrowed to one person.

 

Never mind having Bucky’s eyes. The ghost before her _was_ Bucky. The Winter Soldier was Bucky.

 

His eyes, his nose, his mouth, his cheeks, she knew that face. For years she’d studied that face, woken up beside that face. She grew up beside that face. Even before the Serum gave her photographic memory, she’d been able to sketch that face from memory. She could see that face in Jamie’s, it was Bucky’s face.

 

Dimly she thought that he needed to shave, but that thought was so insignificant compared to the rest of what she was registering, that it was shoved to the back of her mind for a moment.

 

Distantly she was aware of her posture shifting when she saw his face, all fight draining out of her body. It was almost as if some kind of twisted muscle memory wouldn’t let her fall into a defensive or offensive position against him, let alone fight him now she recognized him.

 

Bucky. Her James Bucky Barnes. Her husband, the father of her daughter. Alive. Breathing. In the future with her and Jamie.

 

“Bucky?” Stevie asked, panting for breath and fairly sure she was going into shock or something.

 

Working as an assassin for Hydra. Bucky was the Winter Soldier.

 

“Who the hell is Bucky?” the Soldier, _Bucky_ , replied.

 

Either he didn’t remember her, or she was seeing things and going crazy. Stevie didn’t know what was worse because she _knew_ he was Bucky.

 

Behind her, Stevie heard Jamie gasp, “Daddy?”

 

She wasn’t crazy, Jamie recognized him too. Sure, the recognition was from the pictures and giant picture of his head in the Smithsonian, but still. She was staring into the face of her dead husband.

 

Bucky raised yet another gun and aimed it at her, when Sam finally showed up, appearing out of nowhere, kicking Bucky from above. Sam landed, and Bucky got to his feet, glancing around, slightly confused, before raising the gun again. His eyes flickered to Jamie for a moment, and Stevie felt her heart stuttering again because this was the first time Bucky was laying eyes on his daughter.

 

This time instead of firing his gun, Bucky twirled away, and Stevie barely remembered to duck to the left when a grenade was fired over her right shoulder, blowing up the car that the Bucky had just been standing in front of.

 

Stevie turned to see that it was Natasha who had fired, before looking back for Bucky again to see him gone.

 

Sirens rang out in the air, and Jamie was screaming again, but Stevie felt numb. Only moving when she felt Jamie grab her arm.

 

Stevie tried to shake herself, looking away from where her Bucky had stood to look at her Jamie as the sirens got closer and STRIKE team seemed to flood the street from out of nowhere.

 

“Drop the shield and get down on your knees!” Rumlow shouted, leading the team with guns at the ready.

 

The guns trained on her daughter made something in her snap. The shield was out of her hand before she’d registered that she had even moved.

 

“GET THOSE GUNS AWAY FROM THE KID!” Rumlow bellowed belatedly as the shield took out five men.

 

He managed to get in closer to Stevie and kick her knee out from under her before the shield returned to her. The shield returned to Stevie, landing on the ground in front of her. Rollins moved to put his gun to her head as some faceless agent grabbed Jamie’s arm.

 

“DON’T YOU TOUCH MY DAUGHTER!” Stevie snarled, ignoring the guns trained on her, her only thoughts of Jamie while Rumlow struggled to get handcuffs on her.

 

“Let go of the kid, let go of the kid now! She’ll stop fighting if you let go of the kid!” Rumlow ordered, causing the agent to let go of Jamie.

 

Jamie used her freedom to run at Rumlow and kick him hard in the shin before latching on to Stevie. Rumlow shouted in pain, glaring at Jamie while managing to cuff Stevie’s wrists. That second wind of fight just left her the moment Jamie wasn’t immediately in danger of leaving her sight.

 

That’s when Stevie heard a helicopter and became aware of the guns again. Sam and Natasha were getting cuffed too.

 

“Not here, not here,” Rumlow ordered Rollins, jerking his head at the copter and making Rollins back down and lower his gun.

 

Stevie started running through all the conversations she’d had with Rumlow about Jamie and Bucky, and suddenly things started falling into place.

 

The words slipped out of her mouth almost as a whisper, “You knew.”

 

“What?” Rumlow said, frowning at her.

 

“You knew,” Stevie repeated, “You knew he was alive. You knew he was the Soldier and the Soldier was him.”

 

Rumlow seemed to sigh, “Yeah, I knew.”

 

Stevie couldn’t even react to that. She didn’t know how, what with everything already, how to react to that. He knew her husband, the love of her life, was alive, and had the audacity to ask her about him and their daughter, and not tell her that her husband was alive.

 

Stevie was manhandled into a van with a set of massive cuffs on her hands and wrists. Sam, Natasha, and Jamie were all pushed in there with her, two guards stationed in the van to watch them.

 

Stevie barely registered when the vans started moving before opening her mouth.

 

“The Winter Soldier is Bucky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I forgot how involved my mom is into throwing parties and found myself with back to back late nights on top of cold reads and diving head first into pre-production for the next films I'm working on.


	6. Enough Shock for One Day

Maria Hill seemed to know how to make an entrance almost as dramatically as Fury. Posing as one of their guards, Maria had infiltrated Hydra and gotten them out of their cuffs and the moving vans undetected.

 

Stevie refused to let go of Jamie while they walked through the city and stole more cars. Maria took them to a safe house, that was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The drive to the safe house had Stevie remembering why she’d been fighting in the first place: Project Insight. It was still a problem, and it was a problem being protected by Bucky.

 

Stevie looked at Jamie, who had fallen asleep in Stevie’s arms. Too much excitement, too many traumatic events in a short amount of time, and she had missed nap time because of a shoot out.

 

“Jamie is crazy strong,” Sam said in a low voice. “When you got knocked into that bus, she hid and then took out a guy’s legs when he tried to shoot Natasha and me. Just slammed into his legs like she was playing Red Rover or was an NFL linebacker. Took everyone by surprise, especially the guy because she just kept running. It was like his body wasn’t even an obstacle, she just trampled him.”

 

“I was like Black Friday sales but with just one person,” Natasha grinned, wincing when Sam added more pressure to her injured shoulder. “Screeching a little battle cry and everything. Gave Sam the chance to deal with him properly because everyone gave her a wide berth after that.”

 

“She had a battle cry?” Stevie asked, “What even was her battle cry?”

 

“I was mostly an unintelligible scream of fury that was loosely translated to ‘You hurt my mommy’ after some thought,” Sam snickered. “You’ve got a little fighter on your hands. I saw the kick she gave that Rumlow dude.”

 

“I hope she at least bruised the bone,” Stevie admitted, smiling down at Jamie in her arms. “I didn’t hear a snap, but it could be slightly fractured. She’s always hated Rumlow.”

 

Natasha let out a pained chuckle and Sam’s small smile turned into a smirk.

 

“You said Jamie ID’d the Soldier as Sargent Barnes, too,” Maria stated, frowning at the road in front of them. “She was born after New York.”

 

“Stephanie Barnes takes her daughter to the Captain America exhibit at the Smithsonian so her daughter can talk to pictures of her dead husband,” Natasha explained, wincing again. “Jay’s spent enough time staring at a giant picture of her father’s head to recognize him as easily as Stevie.”

 

Maria nodded with a quiet hum, “How’re you holding up Stevie?”

 

“I have a mission, I’ll be fine,” Stevie replied calmly.

 

“I’d ask what the hell you mean but I feel like I’m not going to like the answer, so I’ll wait until we get to the safe house to ask,” Sam decided aloud, leaning back in his seat. “I missed a meeting at the VA today, but despite getting captured, today has been a good day for me.”

 

“Wilson, did you get hit in the head?” Natasha questioned incredulously.

 

“No, I’m just trying to not think about my poor totaled car, or the fact the steering wheel was yanked out of my hands and through the windshield.”

 

Maria let out a concerned sound as she parked the car. “I hope you’re ready for some more surprises today.”

 

“If this is your way of telling me that yet another person I believe to be dead is alive I might punch you,” Stevie warned Maria.

 

Maria just shrugged at her and got out of the car. Stevie carrying Jamie, Natasha, and Sam walked into the safe house to see Fury sitting up in bed, very much awake and alive.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Jamie woke up to see Fury and had to be caught by Sam midair when she realized he was alive. In her enthusiasm for Unca Nick’s apparent magical revival, Jamie didn’t seem to grasp the concept of him still being injured.

 

By the time Jamie had woken up, the new plan to take down Project Insight had been finalized, and it had been agreed that they were taking SHIELD down with Hydra. Maria volunteered to take Jamie, because she technically had the safest job and it had been obvious to everyone without Stevie opening her mouth that Stevie could not leave Jamie in the safe house. She didn’t know the people staying in the safe house, and after the number of times they’d been attacked, nobody expected Stevie to leave Jamie with someone she didn’t know.

 

With Jamie’s safety taken care of, Stevie could think about the next problem closest to her heart: Bucky. He didn’t remember her, so maybe she’d have to trigger some memories. Already she had her route to the Smithsonian to steal back her old uniform mapped out in her head. She just needed him to recognize her. She needed to properly introduce him to her daughter. Stevie didn’t give a damn what anybody else might say, she was going to get her husband back.

 

Sam tried to tell her that she wouldn't be able to save him and muttered about how Hydra had made him abusive, but Stevie refused to accept that Bucky would stay with Hydra.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It started off going as planned. Natasha got into Alexander Pierce’s office easily, and Stevie delivered a wonderful speech to all of SHIELD, outing Hydra. Maria had the room, and Jamie was curled up in her arms while Stevie and Sam started breaking into the Helicarriers with their chips that allowed Maria access to the targeting network.

 

Yes, they had to dodge gun fire and fight people, but Stevie didn’t have to try as hard, and she knew the Bucky was somewhere nearby. Not seeing him on the battle field made her a little nervous, like when it was possible to tell there was a jump scare coming, but the scare was taking a long time to come so she got tenser and tenser.

 

Of course, it was when they were onto the last Helicarrier that Bucky made an appearance. Sam’s wings got broken and Stevie found herself facing a long hallway with Bucky standing emotionlessly in it.

 

"People are gonna die, Buck. I can’t let that happen," Stevie told him.

 

All he was doing was staring coldly at her.

 

"Please, don’t make me do this," Stevie begged, finally throwing her shield to make him move.

 

He lunged. Stevie managed to bring up the targeting system, but Bucky knocked the chip from her hand. They tumbled down from the platform and on to the glass bottom. Ruthlessly, Bucky stabbed her in the shoulder with his knife, and grabbed the fallen chip. Stevie let out a small gasp of pain as she pulled the knife from her shoulder.

 

"Drop it! Drop it!" Stevie chanted, lunging over and putting Bucky in a choke hold.

 

Moving quickly, she found the pressure points on his right arm that would hurt the most but do the least amount of damage. His arm fell loosely to the sides while he let out a low yelp of pain. Stevie kept her arm around his throat until his body went slack before grabbing the chip from his now open hand.

 

She raced back to the targeting system.

 

"One minute!" a worried Maria chimed in Stevie's ear.

 

Bucky had just then regained consciousness and opened fire on Stevie with a hand gun. She had no clue where he was keeping all those weapons, but they were an almost literal pain in her ass.

 

"Thirty seconds, Cap!" Maria sounded close to panicking.

 

"Stand by!" Stevie grunted, dodging gun fire and shoving the chip in.

 

Just then, Bucky landed a hit on the side of the stomach. Stevie slid to the ground and grimaced, gasping and pulling herself back onto her feet. She locked the chip in.

 

"Charlie locked," Stevie panted, letting out a low whine in pain as she slid back onto the ground.

 

"Okay, Cap, get out of there," Maria told her.

 

"Fire now," Stevie ordered, pressing her bullet wound.

 

"But, Stevie…"

 

"Do it! Do it now!" Stevie barked, looking back at Bucky as the Helicarriers opened fire on each other.

 

Bucky suddenly yelled in pain. The desperation in his eyes hurt her. A large piece of rubble pinned him down. Stevie moved to his side immediately and tried to push it off of him. The super soldier needed to get her husband free. She managed to stumble over and lift it high enough for him to drag himself out.

 

"You know me," Stevie told him as he got to his feet, her voice cracking slightly.

 

"No, I don’t!" Bucky denied, lashing out and smacking her across the face.

 

She stumbled back several feet, whimpering quietly to herself in pain. Silently she apologized to Jamie in case she died.

 

"Bucky, you’ve known me your whole life!" Stevie insisted, receiving a punch to the face but refusing to fight back, "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes."

 

"Shut up!" Bucky yelled, hitting her again.

 

Stevie took off her mask and dropped her shield. Her shield dropped and fell through a hole in the glass bottom as the carrier accelerated it's decent. She took of her gloves to show her wedding rings.

 

"I’m not gonna fight you. You’re my husband, the father of my daughter, and I’m your wife," Stevie declared, only to be pushed to the ground violently.

 

Stevie grunted in pain as he hit her and pinned her to the ground.

 

"You’re my mission," he growled, punching her in the face repeatedly, "You’re my mission!"

 

"Then finish it," Stevie told him, "’Cause I’m with you to the end of the line."

 

_And please stop looking at me like I'm a stranger. That's all I ask of you_.

 

Bucky got this surprised, horrified look on his face, as if he was beginning to recognize her. The bottom of the Helicarrier gave way underneath Stevie, and the last thing she saw before losing consciousness was her husband's frightened eyes. The last thing she felt before losing consciousness was the all too familiar bite of cold water as it surrounded her and pulled her into its arms, and the panic that followed that feeling.


End file.
